Emperor Wen of Chen was deeply appreciated and cultivated by his uncle Chen Baxian in his early years, and on June 21 of the third year of Yongding (August 17, 559), Emperor Chen Baxian of Chen Wu died, and the crown prince Chen Chang was still held hostage in Northern Zhou, when there was a strong external enemy to suppress the situation, and there was no heavy minister to assist him, Empress Xuan's Empress Zhang Yao'er consulted with Cai Jingli and others in Zhongshu She, and decided not to mourn, and quickly recruited Chen Xuan, who was the king of Linchuan, to succeed to the palace.
On April 27 of the first year of Tiankang (May 31, 566), The Emperor Wen of Chen died, and the crown prince Chen Bozong succeeded to the throne at the age of forty-five. Before his death, Emperor Wen of Chen entrusted the crown prince Chen Bozong to Chen Yan,the prince of Ancheng, and Chen Yu wept bitterly for his loyalty. Not wanting Emperor Chen Wen's corpse to be cold, Chen Huan moved the idea of seizing the throne, and asked the empress dowager to issue an edict: falsely claiming that Chen Bozong was conspiring with Liu Shizhi, a member of the Zhongshu She, and was unable to take on a big responsibility. Therefore, Chen Huan calmly replaced him as emperor.
Chen Bozong was the eldest son of Emperor Wen of Chen. In the third year (559) of Emperor Wu of Chen's reign, Chen Xuan ascended the throne and made Emperor Bozong of Chen crown prince. Chen Xuan was a brave and resourceful man, and before he ascended the throne, he played a pivotal role in quelling the rebellions of Wang Lin, Zhou Di, Chen Baoying and others. After Chen Xuan became emperor, he exerted great efforts to govern the country, straightened out the administration of officials, paid attention to nongsang, and built water conservancy, so that jiangnan's economy could be restored to a certain extent. At that time, the Chen Dynasty was politically clear, the people were rich, and the country was relatively strong. As a result, Chen Xuan also became a rare and promising monarch in the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
But his son Chen Bozong, however, judged him two people, and since he was a child, he was cowardly by nature, and he did not have any opinions on doing things. In March of the first year of Tiankang (5 6 6), Chen Xuan became seriously ill, so he summoned Chen Huan, the king of Ancheng, Liu Shizhi, a zhongshu she, and Yuan Shu, an official, to the sickbed to arrange the aftermath. He was most relieved that his son Chen Bozong, who was weak in nature, wanted to organize a good auxiliary political team for his son. At the same time, Chen Xuan also wanted to test Chen Huan's attitude, so he said to the crowd, "I want to emulate the ancient sages and give up the throne to my younger brother Chen Huan." After hearing this, Chen Yan quickly fell to the ground and tearfully refused. Yuan Shu and others also strongly persuaded Chen Xuan to take back his life and promised Chen Huan that he would definitely take on the responsibility of assisting the government in the future.
In this way, Chen Xuan expressed the worries in his heart, and Chen Huan also determined the status of auxiliary government. After Chen Xuan's death, Chen Huan became an auxiliary chancellor of Emperor Chen Bozong with the honor of his uncle, and was given the title of Grand General, Situ, and Lu Shangshushi, all of whom supervised various Chinese and foreign militaries. However, before Chen Hao's seat could sit firmly, he was jealous of Liu Shizhi and others, who falsely passed on the emperor's edict to send Chen Yan to Yangzhou. Chen Yan saw that he did not dare to disobey the edict, so he began to pack his bags. His adviser Mao Xi thought that things were strange and advised Chen Yan to clarify the matter before making a decision.
According to Mao Xi's plan, Chen Yan pretended to be ill and deceived Liu Shizhi into the palace. At the same time, Mao Xi went to the empress dowager to find out the reason. The empress dowager said, "Now that the emperor is young and the auxiliary government relies entirely on Chen Yan, how could he be sent to Yangzhou?" Mao Xi went to ask Chen Bozong again, and Chen Bozong did not know at all. At this moment, Chen Yanke let go of his hands and feet, and he immediately ordered someone to put Liu Shizhi into prison and declare the crime of deceiving the king. Before the court lieutenant could hear it, Liu Shizhi committed suicide that night. Subsequently, Chen Hao eliminated Liu Shizhi's Yu Party.
Since then, Chen Hao has changed his previous low profile and presented himself as the "Duke of Zhou" in the DPRK, constantly strengthening his power. Emperor Chen Bozong still had no opinion on handling the affairs of the dynasty as before, and simply pushed everything to Chen Hao, and Chen Bozong became the emperor. When Chen Yu was alone, he gave way to Chen Huan, but Chen Hao did not agree, not because he did not want to be emperor, but because he was afraid that the people of the world would not obey. Now, Chen Yan completely controlled the government of the dynasty, and he was inferior to the name of the emperor, so it was only a matter of time before he became a righteous emperor.
Chen Bomao, the king of Sixing, had long been unaccustomed to Chen Yan's authoritarian style, so he constantly spoke ill of each other. Chen Hao simply did not do two things and launched a palace change. In November of the second year of Guangda (568), Chen Hao asked The Empress Dowager to issue an edict saying that Emperor Chen Bozong was conspiring with Liu Shizhi and others in Zhongshu She, and that Emperor Wen knew that Chen Bozong was unable to assume the responsibility before his death, and intended to cede the throne to Chen Hao, and now it was time to realize Emperor Wen's long-cherished wish! As soon as the edict was issued, Chen Hao sent assassins to kill Chen Bomao, who was not hostile to him.
In the first month of the first year of Taijian (569), Chen Hao ascended the throne, and Chen Bozong was renamed the King of Linhai. Although Chen Hao's throne came from the means of power and scheming, in general, during Chen Yan's reign, he was still diligent in his administration, promoted the politics of Qingming, and the country was relatively stable, so that the social economy was restored and developed to a certain extent.